Until now I’ve told you mostly about the follow up work I did with Jackie’s beneficiaries. I met new people though, and I’d like to start telling you about them. I need to explain though, that I didn’t get the same detail Jackie did on a lot of the people I met. It was hard to ask questions, have them translated, have the person answer, have the answer translated, make notes and then ask the next question. It was especially hard when these were incredibly personal questions and it was clear I was assessing whether we would or wouldn’t help.

Personally, I also found it really difficult to see the levels of poverty people were surviving in. I’ve never seen anything like it before and a lot of the time I was just trying to hold it together, to not react so that people didn’t feel judged by this white…

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My trip to Tacloban was a few months overdue. My friend Emma and I initially planned the trip on December 2013, but I did not have enough funds back then. I finally got to save enough to be able to give something to some typhoon survivors by April.

I was nervous when I left home for Tacloban. The money that I had set aside for our activity was not in my bank account. I later found out that it was just because of the bank’s system maintenance. Later in the day, the money in my bank account even doubled. I thought it was a miracle! Ha! Everything was corrected after the maintenance.

During my brief layover in Cebu on my way to Tacloban, I had to meet my coolest friend in the world Jersie. She took me to breakfast and I had to give her money for the hotel reservation…

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TACLOBAN CITY–Cebuana Lhuillier, the largest microfinancial company in the Philippines, once again extended its help to the city of Tacloban. Together with Unilever-Surf, and Smart Communications, Cebuana Lhuillier donated 10,000 pieces of cement pavers to Dr. AP Bañez Memorial Elementary School and Cirilo Roy Montejo National High School, two public schools in Tacloban.

The partnership of the three leading companies gave birth to a sachet recovery program which aims to collect empty Surf sachets, which a consumer can exchange for free Smart texts in any of Cebuana Lhuillier’s more than 1,700 branches nationwide. The program was able to collect over 12 million empty detergent sachets during its first two years which were converted to cement pavers and other useful materials.

“Almost a year ago, our place has been hit by the Typhoon Yolanda, which killed thousands of people and left us hopeless. Our school’s properties including classrooms and facilities were…

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Members of a savings group in Cabay, Balangkayan, Eastern Samar have opened a feeds store in their community.

The setting up of savings groups in needy communities is a program of the Center for Community Transformation Group of Ministries.

Members of the groups meet regularly for Bible study and to deposit their savings. The savings are accumulated to allow the members to eventually start micro enterprises as individuals or as a group.

Cabay is one of 15 barangays in Balangkayan, a fifth-class municipality in the province of Eastern Samar. After the province was devastated by Typhoon Yolanda in November 2013, four staff of the Center for Community Transformation whose family roots are in the region were relocated from Metro Manila to help with relief and recovery. Among the recovery efforts is the organizing of savings groups among the residents.

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STORIES OF HEROISM

It was November 8, 2013. The day when the Filipinos’ courage and strength were put to test. A super typhoon named Haiyan (locally known as “Yolanda”) struck Central Visayas creating a 25-foot tidal wave. In one clean swoop, Yolanda obliterated the coastal areas where it made landfall on Friday, November 8. More than 11 million people were displaced or rendered homeless. Tacloban City, the capital of the province of Leyte was hit the hardest.

Indeed, Yolanda had come to be known as the strongest typhoon in recorded history. It was 3.5 times worse than Hurricane Katrina, which had devastated New Orleans in August 2005 and claimed the lives of more than 1,800 Americans. By comparison, Philippine government figures show that Yolanda left in her wake more than 6,300 people dead.

This blog is not about the typhoon and the devastation of the areas affected, but about the PEOPLE who came in rescue, and those who inspired others to help one another. This blog is about the modern-day HEROES created by Typhoon Yolanda.

Come join me in telling the stories of heroism, and inspiration.

DISCLAIMER

Posts and photographs are reposts from various sites. Sources are acknowledged as much as possible. Any objections about the posts can be forwarded to heroesofyolanda@yahoo.com, or by writing a comment in one of the posts. The post in question will be removed on request.

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